Dashing drakes

It's that exciting time of year when all sorts of things can turn up.  After last week's Goosander, this drake Garganey graced a Brussels park over the weekend.  This species is a scarce but annual visitor to Brussels and never stays for long; this particular bird was present for just two days.  Our Blackcaps have arrived and are trying hard to make themselves heard amongst the constant chiff-chaffing of the numerous Chiffchaffs.  During a short walk in the forest this morning, I discovered this escaped Chiloe Wigeon, which has been roaming around the south of Brussels since mid-September.  Not tickable of course, being restricted to Chile and Argentina in the wild, but a dashing bird nonetheless.

White and black

It's been wet and very windy for the past ten days or so but the sun finally came out again today and the butterflies reacted immediately, with several Holly Blues and this, my first Small White of the year.  Someone else found a female Goosander, a rare species in Brussels, on my patch this morning and I just got there in time to see here before she continued her migration.  Goosander has been recorded there a few times but was new for my personal patch list, which now stands at 107 species.  Things have been progressing very slowly since the Chiffchaffs arrived but a White Wagtail was back on its territory and busy singing today.  I've more or less given up on getting a decent photo of those pesky Long-tailed Tits since they never stop moving, as opposed to this male Blackbird, which posed nicely for its picture.

It's nesting time!

Our migrant Chiffchaffs have finally arrived en masse and were all over my Brussels patch two days ago, although I saw and heard an early arrival in my local park on 27 February.  Our resident species, such as these Great Crested Grebes, are at various stages of displaying and nest-building, and I even managed to locate a new Long-tailed Tit nest in the very same bush as two years ago!  It's amazing that they go through so much effort to build such an intricate nest, and then do it all over again the next year rather than reusing the same one.  Our wintering waterbirds are starting to decrease in number but those that remain are also displaying or gradually coming into breeding plumage, such as this Great Cormorant.